According to many reports, Echelon can track all internet communications. When certain words such as “espionage” or “hacker” are used in e-mail messages, some believe that the messages are automatically brought to the attention of US authorities.
The plan to raise public awareness of Echelon is being promoted by Cipherwar.com, a tech-news web site. It has urged all individuals who use any form of global communication to take part in the "JAM ECHELON DAY" on 21st October. On that day, users are encouraged to send vast numbers of e-mail messages containing as many “trigger words” as possible in an attempt to flood the Echelon system. In effect, it would be a denial of service attack.
The Cipherwar.com web site lists about 1,700 trigger words. The site acknowledges that the planned attack is unlikely to disable Echelon but explains that its primary intention is to educate members of the public on the threat to individual privacy posed by Echelon.